Elijah Busby, b. 1831, d. 1917
Elijah Busby, now living retired on section
3, White Oak township, is one of the old settlers
of Mahaska county, who for years was a
prosperous agriculturist and for nearly two
decades owned and operated a farm in Adams
township. Later he removed to Monroe
township and now makes his home in White
Oak township. He dates his residence in the
county from 1852. A native of Ohio, he was
born in Carroll county, November 17, 1831.
His father, John W. Busby. was born in Harrison
county, Ohio, and was a son of John
Busby, a native of Maryland, who became one
of the first settlers of Harrison county, Ohio.
The father, there born and reared, was married
to Miss Anna Merryman. a native of
Maryland. They removed to Carroll county,
Ohio, where Mr. Busby opened up a new farm
in the midst of the forest, developing a good
property and there rearing his family. He
died upon the old homestead there, survived
by his wife for a few years. In the family
were the following children: Johnson, who
same year; Abe; Elijah; Agnes; Elizabeth;
John; Thomas, a soldier of the Civil war, now
died in 1905; Jackson, who passed away in the
deceased; Isaac; Aaron; Samuel, who died in
infancy; Julia Ann; and Mary and Rachel,
who died in infancy.
Elijah Busby was reared to farm life in
Carroll county, Ohio, working in the fields and
meadows through the summer months, while
in the winter seasons he attended the public
schools. In the spring of 1852 he came to
Iowa, settling in Mahaska county, where he
worked as a farm hand for several years, at
first receiving only ten dollars per month. He
was married in this county on the 3Oth of
April, 1857, to Miss Eliza Ann Bass, a sister
of Robert Bass, who is mentioned elsewhere
in this work. Mrs. Busby was born in
Bartholomew county, Indiana, and was brought to
Iowa in her girlhood days. Following their
marriage Mr. Busby rented a tract of land for
a few years, after which he entered eighty
acres in Madison county and also bought an
adjoining tract of eighty acres. During the
war he sold that property and invested in
eighty acres of land in Adams township, on
which he made his home for seventeen years,
but his active farm labor was interrupted by
his service in the Civil war. In the fall of
1861 he enlisted in the Union army, joining
Company F. Fourth Iowa Cavalry, with which
he went to Springfield, Missouri, and later to
Arkansas. He was first under fire at
Cottonplant and subsequently was in the engagement
and afterward on duty at Vicksburg. He was
captured at Bear Creek and, being sent to
Libby prison, was there incarcerated until the
fall of 1863, when he was paroled and went
to Benton Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri. He
rejoined his regiment at Vicksburg and after
re-enlisting as a veteran he was granted a
furlough and returned home in the fall of 1863.
He spent a month with his family, during
which time he sold his farm of one hundred
and sixty acres in Madison county and bought
eighty acres in Adams township. On the
expiration of his furlough he returned to the
army and remained with his regiment until
the close of the war, being mustered out at
Atlanta and receiving an honorable discharge at
Davenport. Iowa, in July, 1865. He returned
with a creditable military record, having ever
been faithful and loyal to the cause which he
espoused and doing active service on various
battlefields. He was in ten skirmishes.
Mr. Busby resumed farming in Adams
township where he cultivated and improved
his land. He erected good buildings there,
cleared and broke about forty acres and fenced
re. As time passed he developed an
excellent property and there continued in active
farming for seventeen years, when he sold out
and bought a farm in Monroe township,
comprising nearly two hundred acres. This be
also began to further improve and he erected
there a good barn together with various out-
buildings for the shelter of grain and stock.
There was a good house upon the place and he
divided the land into fields of convenient size
by well kept fences. He lived for seventeen
years upon that property, after which he
rented the place and removed to Rose Hill,
where he purchased a tract of eight acres. He
then repaired and added to the house and he
now gives his attention to gardening and to
keeping up his place, which is very neat and
thrifty in appearance. He started in Iowa
with no capital, but possessed strong and
determined purpose and upon that quality as a
foundation builded his success.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Busby have been born
six children, three sons and three daughters:
William L., who is now engaged in the
practice of medicine in Delta, Iowa; John R.. who
is mentioned elsewhere in this work; Homer
E., a lawyer of Fort Dodge; Alice, the wife of
J. W. Thomas, a lawyer and real-estate dealer
of Fort Dodge; Emma, the wife of Jared
Brown, a resident farmer of Monroe
township, Mahaska county; and Lena, the wife of
George W. VanNest, of Keokuk county.
In his political views Mr. Busby was a
republican for a long period but later gave his
support to the Greenback party and is now a
Roosevelt populist. He served as justice of
the peace in Adams township and also
township trustee there and for many years has been
a member of the school board. He has
frequently been a delegate to the conventions of
his party and is interested in righteous
management of county affairs along political lines.
He belongs to the Grand Army post and his
wife is a member of the Methodist church.
Mr. Busby is one of the few remaining early
settlers of Mahaska county and also of the
veterans of the Civil war. He has led an active
and honorable life crowned with successful
accomplishment and Mahaska county has
benefited by his labors. He and his esteemed wife
are now living in honorable retirement,
enjoying the rest that has been so well earned and
richly deserved.
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from Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa by Manoah Hedge
The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1906
Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy
Iowa Genealogy
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